Carte Blanche
by doom mongerer
Summary: Jack's life takes an unexpected turn when she is attacked and fails to meet the merc crew she planned to join. She finds herself facing the the prospect of an entirely different life to the one she planned and she must decide if it's worth the sacrifice.
1. Chapter 1

Contains some very light references to a previous fic, _Leaving Jack_ but don't worry, you don't have to read it to understand this story. Set before COR because, like a lot of people, I didn't much like the way they destroyed Jack. So I'm doing it a different way.

As always I welcome your comments and criticisms

**Carte Blanche**

"Jack is dead," she whispered watching her reflection in the mirror, thinking maybe something should look different. She shouldn't have said it out loud but she needed something real, for herself, despite the risks. She needed to be able to look back and explain why she had abandoned the safety of her childhood and accepted the harsh fate that had befallen her.

She could fight it. Hell, if she knew how to do anything it was fight. Or she could run. Running had always been her fall-back and in an odd sort of way this was no different. She was already loosing herself.

Yeah, Jack really was dead.

Then she almost laughed, because she liked to laugh too.

It was one hell of a resumé, she mused. Was it any wonder she had ended up here? The whole thing smacked of fate, destiny and all that crap. That pissed her off because, well, she had had _plans_. They'd been really good plans too. She had always had hope, but for the first time she had looked to the future with anticipation.

But those recruiters had lifted her off Helion prime mere hours before she was supposed to join her first merc crew. Just a few damn hours and she would have been free and clear.

Now though, she had been forced to sign away five years of her life over to an army that fought for something she didn't understand and a sovereign she had never even heard of. Chances were that she wouldn't make it the five years, she thought morosely. Kids like her were nothing more than cannon fodder. She could fight but not even her impressive skills ran to dodging rifle fire.

Five years... She'd be into her twenties by the time they let her go. More or less. She had long ago lost track of her exact age. You're only as old as you tell people, right? She used to tell people she was fifteen because as far as she was concerned it was a pretty fair guess.

For some reason though, she had told the recruiter that she was seventeen. She didn't know what she hoped to gain from the lie but it was habit, self-protection and an instinct that was buried so deep she could no longer fathom it.

The truth might have saved her. The recruiters were ruthless but not cruel and under any law fifteen was too young to become a soldier. They said that the only reason they had taken her was to save her from the vicious Skohls that had attacked her as she waited for her pick up. She herself had killed the first two but no doubt more would have followed after the recruiters had knocked her unconscious and spirited her away from Helion.

She didn't dwell too much on why the Skohls had come after her because in all of this mess it was the one thing that frightened her. Skohls shouldn't have been stalking a nameless orphan in the shadows of a Helion spaceport. They shouldn't have been wasting their time on someone so unremarkable. She could only assume that they had been mistaken when they made the first grab for her.

No, she couldn't admit the possibility that Skohls actually wanted _her_.

But something had stirred at the sight of those terrifying markings on their necks and arms. Old memories of raids on the farms and transports she had once lived on floated to the surface.

She had been running so long that sometimes she couldn't remember why.

And now Skohls again.

She was spooked so she had done what she always did when something threatened her. She died and was reborn as someone else. Jack died the day she was taken from Helion, the day the Skohls had marked her, the day her life got hijacked by soldiers she didn't know well enough to trust.

When they asked her name she didn't even have to think. Afterwards, when she did think about it, she was glad for the eccentricities of that field doctor on Senstera who refused to let her body fail or her mind fade. She was surprised at how deeply such passing kindnesses had always touched her. Back then, later on that dark planet and now in the face of a new path that would surely lead her into death once again.

A rock and a hard place, she thought. When had it ever been any other way?

Okay, so a soldier's life wasn't what she had planned but she was adaptable, she could work with this and use it to her advantage. This could be whatever she wanted it to be and right now her instincts were screaming for a hiding place, her heart knew it needed somewhere to mend and her mind understood that there were useful lessons to be learned here.

It was the lesser of a whole bunch of evils, she smiled to herself. Then she shook her head, retreating back into denial.

"Are you coming, Cadet?"

She flinched, assuming she was being called by an officer. But when she looked over to the figure at the doorway she was relieved to see a tall, dark boy, not that much older than herself wearing a broad smile and the same plain uniform she was.

She nodded and returned the smile. "What's your name?" she asked, figuring she might as well make friends since she was stuck here.

"August Bello," he said, holding out his had for her to shake. "But people call me Gus."

How very grown up, she thought as she took it. "Desdemona Lyon."

"Looking forward to the training then Des?"

Her eyebrows flew up at the fast familiarity but she couldn't take offence. This guy was even more chipper than people told her she was.

"Sure," she said. "A girl can never know enough ways to kill someone."

Bello faltered at the bitterness in her tone and that was when she realised that he was actually here out of choice. Perhaps he thought he was doing his duty, or perhaps he was looking for a regular pay check and a roof over his head. But he definitely wasn't a stone cold killer.

"Hey," she said in a softer voice, "I was only joking."

"No you weren't. I heard Jarav talking to the other officers. He said you killed a couple of Skohls. Said you did it well too. Is that why you're here?"

She frowned, not really understanding the question. "I guess."

"Jarav said that you can't teach that sort of thing. He reckons you're a raw talent."

"I wouldn't pay that much attention to what Jarav says. The man's got a screw loose if you ask me. He's probably just trying to psych you out. Besides," she said with a shrug, "Anyone can learn to kill. You just have to have the right kind of teacher."

"And you did?"

"Yeah," she said trying to ignore the twisting pain in her gut at the oblique reference to the man who had both saved and destroyed her.

"This is great!" Bello said excitedly. "You can be my training partner."

"You want me to teach you to kill?" she stammered in astonishment.

"I'm going to have to learn," Bello said reasonably. "I'd be a pretty poor soldier if I couldn't."

"That's what the training is for," she said shortly. No way was she getting into the distinction between what she had done back on Helion and what she would probably have to do in the next five years.

"I don't just want to be a soldier," he told her. "I want to be a Crimson Guard. The elite."

She huffed. "Crimson is a colour that attracts a lot of attention. Sounds like a good way to end up dead even quicker if you ask me."

"They're the King's own bodyguard," Bello said. "They get all the best positions and they outrank everybody. My father was a Crimson Guard."

So that was it. Family tradition. "Well, my father was a priest," she said, "So I guess I'm screwed."

"Did he approve of you joining the Army?"

"I don't know. I never got the chance to tell him," she said, "I'm sure he would be happy that I'm being kept out of trouble."

Bello's eye's narrowed. "I get it. You never joined up. You got pressed, didn't you?"

"Pressed?"

"Forced into the Army under the special skills directive."

"Fancy words," she snorted. "I'd usually go with kidnapping but whatever."

"You can appeal. Your family can apply to the King..."

"No!" she snapped. "They can't know what happened to me. The best thing I can do to keep them safe is to stay as far away as possible. If those Skohls found them..."

Bello stared at her thoughtfully for a few moments before appearing to decide to drop the subject. "Okay. But that's your choice. If you're here then you're with us. You fight with us."

"I always fight, Gus," she told him. "Make a nice change to be on someone's side, believe me."

"So, partners?"

She sighed. "You aren't a killer. It's not all it's cracked up to be, you know." But he just glared back at her, his eyes as intense with concentration as they had been with curiosity. Oh, what the hell! "Partners. Fine. On your own head."

She was rewarded with an dazzling smile, white on black. "I'll make a Crimson Guard of you yet Desdemona Lyon."

Frankly, she couldn't care less what she ended up as providing she survived the five years. If sticking with Bello meant being a Crimson Guard then she'd do it. It was a small price to pay to know that someone had her back.

And when it was all over she would get on with her plans.

"So, let's get going, girl!" Bello boomed as he hustled her out of the barracks. "First day's training. Schedule says basic fitness which means running. I hope you can run."

"Oh, I can run," Desdemona assured him as she walked out into her new life, "Almost as well as I can kill."

_End_


	2. Chapter 2

I hadn't meant to do this having declared myself on hiatus but it looks as though that was what it took to get my creative juices flowing again. Anyway consider this the middle panel of a kind of triptych of Jack stories that get her from A - B. Can you guess who B is?

**Dead Run**

"Goddamn it!" Jack hissed under her breath as she continued to wrap a grubby piece of cloth around Bello's head. She hoped to hell whatever her had hacked had been worth it because judging by the mess the security system had made of his eyes she reckoned that it have cost him his sight.

"Had to go and be a fucking hero, didn't ya?" she teased.

To her relief Bello laughed.

"What did you find Corporal? Captain Ratchett demanded. Even at a whisper his voice commanded Jack's muscles to attention.

Bello's expression sobered. "Nothing good, sir. They plan to attack Llogress at dawn. Their forces are four times larger than we had anticipated and," here he flinched, "They have Ballantyne Stingers. The second our troops power up, they're fucked."

"How the hell did they get Stingers?"

"Don't know sir," said Bello. "There's a shitload of intel on that datafile so it's gonna be on there. But I didn't get a chance to view it before I got kicked out."

Ratchett ground his teeth and Jack could guess what was going through his mind. Their unit was stranded, without comms or transport. They were due a pick up in twenty-four hours but by then it would be too late for the garrison at Llogress.

"Can we use their comms systems to get a message to our people?"

Bello shook his head. "No. The security is sealed up tight now. There's no way we can bypass it again. In fact, we should expect company pretty soon."

Ratchett glanced around at the company. Bello and Luthard were injured which left only Jack, Mielle and Smith in any condition to fight.

This was only supposed to be a straight forward recon but things... escalated.

Bloody typical, Jack thought.

"Could we rig up a surface signal?" Ratchett mused.

It was Smith who answered. "No sir. Too much iron in these hills. The interference would wipe out anything we could set up."

"Sir," Jack said, "It's what? Forty clicks to Llogress?"

"Give or take."

"We could run it, sir."

"Run it?" Ratchett frowned

"We've got seven hours. There's time."

"Corporal Lyon, are you insane"

Jack gritted her teeth. "No sir."

"Des, you can't run forty kilometres through the night, on this kind of terrain," Bello said softly. "Even if they didn't catch you, you'd drop from exhaustion."

Thanks a whole bunch, Gus, Jack thought, sending Bello a mental kick.

She turned back to Ratchett. "Sir, I clock an even four hours over thirty clicks on a treadmill at least once a week and you won't find anyone who can outlast me on a synth-runner." Jack glared at her CO, knowing that it was a breach of protocol but not caring. Bello had suffered to get this intel. She sure as hell wasn't going to let them sit on their asses while there was still a chance for their people stationed at the boarder. "What have you got to loose?"

"You, you stupid cow," Bello grunted.

There was a beat before Ratchett nodded. "Mielle will go too. Travel light and quiet. Don't let us down."

Jack shot a dubious glance as Mielle, a mountain of a man and not exactly the sort Jack had ever considered as being fleet of foot.

"Yes sir!" they both barked. Even as they spoke, both were shedding gear, lightening their loads and securing night vision visors over their faces.

Jack bent back over Bello, taking the datafile and giving his arm a comforting squeeze.

"You're going to get yourself killed," he complained.

"Nonsense! It's just a nice jog in the country."

"It better be," Bello groused. "We've got plans remember."

Oh yeah, the great master plan to get into the Crimson Guard. Well, call her proud but Jack didn't want to get in just because all the other candidates were dead.

She didn't say goodbye. She never did. Melodramatics made her want to vomit.

She followed as Mielle scrambled out of their foxhole and screed down the steep slope to the bottom of the valley.

Mielle, being senior, took point while Jack jogged a few paces behind him watching his heavy boots dig deep grooves into the dirt. She should have been in front really, so that the ground wasn't so torn up and the pace wasn't so damn male. But trying to tell that to someone like Mielle was just asking for an argument and they didn't really have time for that shit. Still, Jack knew if they carried on at the same pace they would both drop before they even got halfway.

"Hey," she called in a low voice. "We aren't sprinting to Llogress."

Mielle threw a disdainful look over his shoulder. "This was your idea. Now you say you can't keep up."

Jack rolled her eyes. What a meathead! "I'm _saying_ be smart, Mielle. Don't run yourself ragged just to prove you can go faster than me. We both know you can but this isn't a competition. We both need to get there."

Mielle face crumpled in acquiescence. Ha! Yes, there it was – that annoying Cinderveldt sense of duty always won out.

"Fine," he said eventually. "You go ahead."

They switched out and Jack felt a whole lot happier about the situation, especially when Mielle fell quickly and quietly into the rhythm she set.

The route they took was not particularly trying for Jack. The downhill gradient was fairly gentle and she was agile enough to handle the uneven forest surface. After a while though she sensed Mielle suffering.

She knew it wasn't the pace but his huge bulk and his heavy tread sucked the energy out of him.

Jack knew they couldn't carry on like this. She jogged to a stop. "Break time."

Mielle hunkered down beside her and shared one of the few canteens of water they had brought.

"You okay?" she said as casually as she could.

He grunted something under his breath that sounded a bit like, "Headache."

Jack frowned. She was surprised that he had admitted to that but then again keeping your colleagues aware of any weaknesses you have was an essential part of operating as a unit.

"Keep your eyes on the ground," Jack suggested. "Don't keep switching perspective. Give your eyes a bit of a rest."

Mielle nodded.

"Ready," she said as she stood. The pace she set wasn't as fast as before and she hoped that Mielle took her advice.

* * *

They had been lucky so far. The dense forest, although difficult to negotiate, provided cover from surveillance drones but soon the trees thinned out and Jack couldn't help but keep half an eye on the sky.

Open ground was better for running. Jack gradually built up their speed and the even surface clearly suited Mielle who generated a great deal less huffing and puffing.

Jack made some mental calculations. She reckoned that despite the slight set back that was Mielle they had made good time. Even Ratchett would have to offer a grudging compliment.

"We should reach the Vliet Pass in a few miles," he told her quietly.

Jack nodded in reply. That was good news. The Vliet Pass was the boundary of the disputed territory. Once they were out of it they could stop worrying about being ambushed. Probably.

The horizon was drawing near and Jack and Mielle eagerly advanced. They anticipated the deep drop of the cliff down into the pass but instead as the chasm came into view all they could see was a field of cold, grey ice. A glacier!

"No way!" Jack ground to a halt. Mielle nearly careered into her but somehow managed to reign himself in.

"It's the Green Melt," he told her with a frown. "Except it's not melted."

Jack braced her hands on her hips muttered, "This I can see."

Mielle sighed and stared out across the Glacier. "This should have been the valley that took us down and over the Jaalson River. We'll have to go around."

Jack's stomach sank. "How far around?"

Mielle hunkered down and pulled out the map. "We can detour around the hills to the west. Maybe another ten clicks."

"We'll never make it in time."

"It was always a long shot."

There was a silence while Jack surveyed the glacier and Mielle stared resentfully at the valley walls.

After a moment Jack advanced and darted down the slope and on to the ice. There was an ominous creak.

"Lyon, get back here!" Mielle yelled.

"It's taking my weight," Jack smiled. "Don't think it's going to take your though, big guy. Sorry."

"Don't be a bloody fool, Corporal. You can't run on a melting glacier. You'll end up an ice cube."

"I'm not going to run. I'm going to walk... really fast. You go round. We'll have that race you wanted."

Mielle regarded her with a grim expression. Eventually he nodded. "Lighten up, Lyon. What don't you need?"

"You know," Jack said, handing up her backpack, helmet utility belt and anything else she could detach, "I'm liking you more and more."

"Yeah," Mielle snorted, "Only because I give you exactly what you want."

"Learning to give a woman exactly what she wants is a useful life skill, Mielle. Your wife will thank me."

* * *

Oh fucking hell, this was cold! Jack suppressed a groan. At least if she had been able to run it might have kept her warm but this was torture. It was worse than power-walking, the way she had to slide her feet across the ice so her weight never got too concentrated.

As she got further and further down the glacier it was clear that the integrity of the ice was starting to fail. The creaks and echoes of the shifting surface chilled her as much as the frozen river she walked on.

Idly she mused that this wasn't strictly a glacier then, was it? It was just a frozen river.

Jack snorted at her own train of the thought. It didn't matter what it was called it was still probably going to kill her. She hoped Mielle got a say on her commemorative plaque. _She died a self-righteous ice cube._

She was glad Gus wasn't here with her. He hated when she got all "gung-ho" as he called it. He… well, he worried about her. It was weird and Jack was never really sure what to do with it. It didn't bother her like it had when it had been Imam. But he had been like a father to her and Gus was her friend. Different relationships. She hadn't had any choice in the former and so the care Imam gave her mostly inspired her to rebel against it.

Gus was an enigma to Jack. She had never understood why he bothered with her really. Actually, if she was honest, she didn't understand why she had thrown her lot in with him either.

Okay, the whole intensive training program they had gone through had been very conducive to the forming of fast friendships but from the second she and Gus had met it had been deeper than that.

So yeah, while she might not have all the reasons figured out yet she certainly wasn't going to let him rot in a foxhole thirty clicks inside disputed territory.

* * *

An hour later and Jack knew she was pushing her luck. She had to get off the ice otherwise she would inevitably go through it. The problem was that the only option now was to get back up on the cliffs and make her way along the top and there was a very good reason Jack and Mielle hadn't done that in the first place. The boundary was wired for sound. One false move and she would be painted all over the valley.

But there was no choice now. The only ray of hope was that she was only a mile or so from the mouth of the mouth of the pass and if luck was on her side and she didn't push it she might just get there.

Jack hauled herself up the steep, gravelly cliff wall. Cautiously she stood and looked around. Even through her night vision visor she could tell that the ground was disturbed. That might be a good thing though. Mines and traps were supposed to be hidden and the fact that someone or more likely something had been here fairly recently was a good indicator that she wasn't closed to anything too nasty. At least in theory.

Jack decided that she would try and keep as close to the cliff wall as possible. At least then if something went boom she get thrown onto the ice rather than more mines. She'd choose death by ice over fire if those were the only choices.

Gingerly she picked her way, throwing stones and broken branches ahead of her. Testing the ground with tentative steps, listening intently for tell-tell clicks that might herald her demise.

There were a few moment, which she would never speak of to anyone as long as she breathed, where her nerve completely failed and she was paralysed by terror. The straining silence overwhelmed her and the only way to break free was to grasp the datafile on the chain around her neck and remind herself what was at stake.

After a lifetime she peaked down the valley wall and saw the river of ice ease lazily into the vase expanse of the Jaalson. This was it. It should be a clear run to Llogress from here.

Jack glanced down at her watch. Ninety minutes until dawn. There was enough time to mobilise the defences at Llogress and to send a pickup for her unit.

Relief stole through Jack and she sank to her knees at the cliff edge with a thud.

_Click._

Jack didn't think. She hurled herself off the cliff and felt the heat of the blast wave on her skin.

She landed with a crunch and it was a second or two before the pain hit. The fall hadn't been far but she had hit a large boulder awkwardly and her knee had smashed against it. Something had to give and it wasn't going to be a giant lump of rock.

That puts paid to the whole running malarkey, Jack thought hysterically. Hopefully the explosion would draw some troops to investigate. If not everyone was screwed.

"Let's have some of your Cinderveldt duty now, when it'll actually come in handy," Jack whispered in something that might have been a prayer.

* * *

The next hour was a blur, especially after they pumped a shitload of opiates into her veins. Bless 'em.

But she somehow managed to communicate the intel about the pending attack on Llogress and the position of her stranded unit.

"Yay Jack…" she mumbled.

"What are you on about, Lyon?" came the commanding voice of Mielle in her ear. She couldn't see him. Then again, she couldn't see much except some fuzzy red and black spots.

"Hey," she laughed sleepily, "You made it!"

"They're evacuating Llogress," Mielle told her. "You're getting transported to the inland Medical Camp."

Mielle's short tone told her all she needed to know. Her knee was fucked. She wasn't surprised; it felt fucked.

"Gus?"

"Yeah. He's headed there too."

Good. It was good. Even though her knee felt like it was on fire and even though the drugs clouded her vision… It was all good.

* * *

"I hear you're a cripple," Bello said.

"At least I don't look like a Chupa Chup," Jack replied, collapsing into the chair at Bello's bedside. His head was still bandaged but it was a neat white turban rather than the messy field dressing Jack had made.

"Was it worth it?" he said quietly.

Jack paused. The evacuation went as smoothly as could be expected but they still hadn't had much time. At least their side had been forewarned about the Ballantyne Stingers otherwise it would have been a different story. But that wasn't what Gus meant. He meant had it been worth it for them, for the prices each of them had paid.

"Don't know yet," she admitted.

"At least you get what you really want," Bello added.

"I do?"

"Yeah. You can apply to be demobbed early. They won't say no."

The idea had honestly never occurred to Jack. And now Bello mentioned it, it a wasn't a half bad plan.

But the tone of his voice and the grim line of his jaw cut off that little fantasy. Besides, she had promised.

"Fuck that!" she grinned. "They aren't getting rid of me until they fix my knee and your eyes. It's the least they can bloody do."

Bello relaxed.

"Don't get too comfy though, Gus. Jarav wants to see us."

"Jarav? What for?"

"To screw us over probably." Jack shrugged. "That's what he usual does."

"Des..." Bello growled warningly.

"Alright, alright! I'll be good."

* * *

The smug expression on Jarav's face made Jack want to throw something, possibly the walking cane she was forced to lean on as she attempted to stand to attention.

He opened with, "Well, well, kids. Seems as though you've done me proud."

Jack's motivation may have been a little confused but she was pretty sure being a credit to Jarav had nothing to do with it.

"Yes sir," she and Bello replied in unison.

"The right people are talking about both of you. Talking about promotions, assignments and wondering what to do with you." He shuffled some paper officiously and cleared his throat. "I guess now's the time to speak up if you have any preferences…"

"Crimson Guard," they barked.

Jarav chuckled. "Of course. Crimson Guard. What else?" He eyed Bello and then Jack. "The Crimson Guard are all specialists. Bello here has obvious skills. What about you, Lyon?"

"Engineering, Sir," Jack returned promptly.

"You want to be an engineer?" Jarav flicked an incredulous eyebrow.

"No sir. I _am_ a qualified level 9 Hitchins engineer." Jack took great pleasure in revealing that little secret. She had never been much of a one for school but she had spend so much time hanging out at Medina Space Port when she was a teenager, well a younger teenager at any rate, that her skills built practically by osmosis. It had been Lajjun's idea for her to get formal qualifications. Jack hadn't always got along with the woman but she sent her silent thanks now. Jack bit back a grin and added, "I'd have been a 10 if you'd recruited me a few weeks later. I keep my hand in when I can. I can be up to standard in a few weeks."

"You never said," Jarav said with some annoyance.

"You never asked." Beside her Bello twitched in agitation. She had said she would be good so she relented. "I'm going to have some time on my hands while I recuperate. Might as well turn it into something useful."

"Useful? Yes, useful is good." Jarav was back to his usual smarmy self. "Very well, I will recommend both of you for immediate transfer once you have a clean bill of health."

"You kept that quiet," Bello whispered as they shuffled back to their transport.

"The engineering thing? I guess so, but why not? They don't own my whole life whatever they like to think. Besides..." Jack paused, glancing up a Bello, "... there are certain things that I've learned the hard way. One of them is never show your full hand."

"You certainly had Jarav on the back foot. I can see that it's a useful strategy."

A strategy? Well, yes, Jack supposed that was one way to look at it. She had always thought of it as more of a lifestyle choice. It was something she had been doing long before it had ever been distilled into words.

"Never show your full hand," she repeated to herself, "Never let them know what you're really capable of and always, always have a plan B."

"Sorry?"

Jack started. "Oh, ignore me. Just rambling. So, what do you think our first assignment will be?"


	3. Chapter 3

Ah, the great computer clear out continues...

**Iestyn Thorn**

Well shit, thought Jack as she stepped off the transport in front of Brinden Palace. She hadn't seen a building like that outside of fairy tales and it was fuck-off impressive. Not just in the incredible, gravity defying architecture but the sheer solidity of it, like it could endure bombardment for about twenty years.

And this was going to be her home for the next four years. Not bad. For the first time in a long time she was okay with what fate had offered up.

Shame about the bullshit babysitting assignment she and Bello had been saddled with but, like he always said, it was a damn sight better than a head full of neural inhibitors and a life expectancy of a gnat in the general infantry. The whole point of being a Crimson Guard, for Jack at least, was to avoid that fate.

"We should report in," he said as he drew level with her. Like her he was staring up at the colossal palace complex. Unlike her he didn't seem that impressed.

"Where though?" Jack wondered.

"Barracks are on the north side of the palace."

"You've been here before?"

There was a pause after which Bello nodded slowly. "I grew up here."

Jack was bemused by Bello's lack of enthusiasm. Usually he had it in aces and now he'd got exactly what he wanted she expected to see at least some little spark of happiness.

"Hey," she said softly, "This is good, right? Crimson Guard, just like you planned."

Bello gave himself a shake and pulled a watery smile. "Yeah, of course. I just didn't expect to be here again so soon... It's hard coming back."

"I wouldn't know."

Bello led the way to the barracks, which looked exactly like any other that Jack had seen. They were clean, tidy and radiated an air of bustling activity. Groups of soldiers were standing around the courtyard. A few nodded when they saw Bello and more than a few frowned when they clocked Jack.

Jack made a mental note to ask Bello just how much of a backwater this was. Hadn't they seen a female soldier before?

* * *

"Ah yes," the Duke said as he rifled through their commission papers, "You are the two new officers that have come to join my son's bodyguard. Promoted out of Llogress?"

"Yes sir."

"Commander Jarav tells me that engagement could have gone very differently if it weren't for your actions."

There didn't seem to be a politic reply to that so they both keep quiet.

"At any rate, very good to have you both on board. Let's get Iestyn in so he can meet you. IESTYN!"

Luckily her training had prepared Jack for unexpected bouts of shouting so she didn't jump. She waited curiously unsure what to expect. Luckily she was pretty good with kids and she doubted that even the overindulged offspring of Cinderveldt nobility could present a more difficult challenge than she herself had been.

A few moments later a tall, blond man in his mid twenties entered the office. Jack figured he must be the boy's teacher or something. She peered past him trying to spot the kid.

"Ah ha!" The Duke stood and pushed the man forward.

Jack's attention was still on the door and there was an awkward pause before the Duke coughed.

"Is everything alright, Corporal Lyon?"

"I thought we were to meet your son," she replied. Bello's familiar despairing grimace reminded her to add, "Sir."

"This _is_ Iestyn," the Duke said.

"Oh," she said, trying sound contrite at her mistake. But really, how was she supposed to know he was a grown man if nobody told her? And wasn't he old enough to take care of himself? How important could a Duke's son be? What did he even _do_?

"Sorry, she's an off-worlder," Bello hastily told them.

Jack had to fight the urge to roll her eyes, as she always did when Bello apologised for her. Having said that, she acknowledged that it was probably a good idea that someone did and Bello did it so well.

She nodded and turned to examine her new charge.

* * *

Jack didn't quite know what to make of Iestyn Thorne. An unfamiliar tingle coursed through her as she took in his lean, muscular frame, shaggy blond hair and sea blue eyes.

It was just surprise, she told herself. She had never considered the possibility that men could be beautiful, but this one was.

And when he smiled at her something funny happened to her knees. She would have blamed it on her new artificial joint except her real knee was going to jelly too.

Wow, this was embarrassing. She'd been all geared up for a snot-nosed kid and now she was totally blindsided.

Desperately trying to get a grip on her control she glanced quickly at Bello who was shooting her a whole load of WTF. She just shrugged off her reaction and waited for him to take over the talking part of things. He was better at that shit than she was and God knew she couldn't be trusted not to put her foot in her mouth.

Especially now.

She stole another look at the Duke's son. He had moved his attention to Bello and was greeting him like an old friend.

"It's good to see you Gus. I'm glad you're home." Hands were shaken and Iestyn seemed genuinely pleased at his newest bodyguard.

But Bello was still tense and Jack realised that this was probably the reason why he hadn't been so keen on coming back here. Friends was one thing. Hell, workmates might have been okay. But now old friends were separated by rank and authority and responsibility.

Jack was glad she didn't have to worry about that sort of thing.

"And this is Corporal Desdemona Lyon."

Iestyn Thorne held out his hand for her to shake and Jack hesitated, her eyes coming to rest on the Cinderveldt seal on his index finger. All of a sudden some atavistic impulse kicked her in the kidneys and she had to force herself not to sway under its weight.

She didn't want to touch him. He was dangerous.

Jack raised her head and scrutinised his face and frowned. The hard line of his jaw, his straight nose, proud forehead, the crinkle of his tanned skin at his temples when he smiled… It just didn't make sense.

She was being pulled in two different directions. The nebulous, instinctive part of her that had always been her compass was screaming a warning. But her body was doing all sorts of unfamiliar things that she didn't know how to ignore and she knew as soon as she touched him that she would loose the battle.

"Des!" Bello hissed in annoyance.

"What?" she snapped back. She knew she was being rude and unprofessional but she couldn't help it. She felt trapped and wished she could have thought of a way to refuse politely but judging by Bello's pointed glare she was out of time.

She reached out and allowed Iestyn's hand to close around hers. Heat radiated from the contact and Jack felt a flush race across her skin, covering her, surrounding her, taking her breath away.

She tried to hide her gasp.

Failed miserably.

Couldn't tear her eyes away from the knowing grin on Iestyn's mouth.

Hang on, she thought desperately, as her mental processes ground to a halt, this wasn't her. She didn't go all gooey over the opposite sex. She was smarter than this.

This was trouble. Serious trouble. She needed to…

Oh hell, what was it she needed to do?

"Hello, Desdemona," Iestyn Thorne's smooth tones echoed in her skull, drowning out the fading voice that was chanting a single word over and over.

Her lips parted; an involuntary response. And later she would realise that set the scene for everything that was to come. Likewise, she would remember the one word that had been so easily swept aside by this unnervingly hansom and compelling man.

Swept aside, but not obliterated

Just one word, but in so many ways the core of her. Before the end, Jack would remember it. She would remember to run.


End file.
